Through mistranslation and otherwise, many have been led erroneously to believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of a trinity of God; but the Scriptures, when properly understood, do not warrant this thought. One of the mis- translations contributing to this misunderstanding is where the Greek word pneuma is rendered by the English word ghost. This makes the Holy Spirit to be a Holy “Ghost.”

But this is a gross mistranslation, and so recognized by the American Revision Committee who translated the Revised Version. In a number of instances, both the British and American Revisers corrected “Ghost” to “Spirit.” The American Revisers use the word “Spirit” where the King James Version reads “Ghost.”

The King James Version was translated at a time when superstition was rife, hence the word Ghost would command a great deal more respect and reverence than it does today. In those days ghosts were very real in the minds of most people, yet very mysterious. They were always associated with the thought of personality, and the translators, believing in a personal Holy Spirit, conceived the idea of calling it a Holy “Ghost.”

In the Old Testament the word spirit is a translation of the Hebrew word ruach. The primary significance of this word is wind. We do not mean to imply by this, however, that the Holy Spirit is a holy wind. This is merely the root meaning of the word. Wind is both invisible and powerful, hence the ancients applied this word to various invisible and powerful influences. Since divine power is exercised through channels and by agencies beyond human sight and understanding, this word ruach came to be applied more and more to all of God’s dealings.

The word ruach, in addition to being translated “spirit”, is also translated in the Old Testament by the English words “blast,” “breath,” “tempest,” “mind,” “smell,” “wind,” and “windy.” It will be seen that in each of these translations the thought behind the word is that of invisible power, or influence. There is power in the mind, for example, but it is a power that is invisible, and its operation but little understood.

As already noted, in the New Testament the Greek word translated “Spirit,” or “Ghost,” in the expressions Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, is pneuma. The primary meaning of this word is also wind or air. It is the word from which our English word “pneumatic” is derived. In addition to being translated Spirit and Ghost, it is also translated in the New Testament by the words “life,” “spiritual,” and sometimes “wind.” In Revelation 13:15 it is translated life, and here the reference is to life that is given to the “image of the beast.”

The Holy Spirit then is the invisible power of God, a power that is manifested in a great variety of ways. Speaking of God’s creative power we read that his “Spirit moved upon the face of the waters.” (Gen.1:2) That was a life-giving power. The influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians is primarily that of God’s mind—the power of his expressed will for us.

It helps in an understanding of what constitutes the Holy Spirit to contrast what the Scriptures say about it with what they say about the unholy spirit of Satan. Various manifestations of the Holy Spirit are referred to as “The Spirit of Christ,” the “Spirit of holiness,” the “Spirit of truth,” the “Holy Spirit of promise,” the “Spirit of meekness,” the “Spirit of grace,” the Spirit of prophecy.”

The various manifestations of the spirit of Satan are described as the “spirit of fear,” the “spirit of bondage,” the “spirit of the world,” the “spirit of error,” the “spirit of divination,” the “spirit of antichrist,” and the “spirit of slumber.” No one would conclude that because the word spirit is thus used to describe the various manifestations of Satan’s influence in the world, that there is a personal unholy spirit, that is one in substance with the Devil.